Neighbors: Enjoy your Fourth of July celebration

On Thursday, we will celebrate the Fourth of July, also known as Independence Day. Many of us will be with family or friends, while others will take off for a much-needed vacation.

Please check The Recorder this week for information about area celebrations and fireworks.

I’m hoping, of course, to spend time with my children and grandsons Justin, Owen and Travis. You can imagine how much fun it is to be with an almost 2-year-old and two 10-month-olds. So much! I can tell you one thing, Grandma is starting to lose the weight she’s been trying to lose for so long.

Anyway, this is a time for outdoor fun, delicious barbecued food, including local sweet corn, and great times with friends.

Movies being released this week include “Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain,” with comedian Kevin Hart delivering material from his 2012 tour, “Despicable Me 2,” with one of my favorite actors, Steve Carell, as the voice of Gru, and “The Lone Ranger,” starring another of my favorites, Johnny Depp, as Tonto. Seeing a movie is a great way to get out of the heat, and fortunately, we have our very own Greenfield Garden Cinemas on Main Street here in Greenfield, which has recently renovated its theaters.

Instead of me going on to tell you what the Fourth of July means to me, I’d like to hear about what it means to you.

What’s the most amazing fireworks display you’ve ever seen? What was it about the best barbecue you’ve ever gone to that made you feel that way? If you could insert yourself into history, who would you have been or wanted to speak with on that first Independence Day on July 4, 1776? What have you told or will you tell your children and grandchildren about this day and what it means?

Please contact me by phone or email to share your answers. I’d love to publish some of them.

By the way, before I tell you what’s going on in the county, I’d like to say “happy birthday” to my dad, Chris Fritz, who turns 77 Wednesday .

OUR NEIGHBOR GAIL ZUKOWSKI, town clerk in Northfield, wrote me to tell me how much she appreciated all of the poll workers who spent their day last Tuesday working the polls, as well as Kathy from The Notch restaurant and Kim from Mim’s Market, who provided workers with breakfast, lunch and dinner that day.

I’m sure that town clerks around the county are feeling the same way. I know that Greenfield Town Clerk Maureen Winseck was very appreciative when I talked with her last week.

It is the poll workers who help everything run smoothly on election days. Our hats are off to all of you who make it so easy for us to vote.

OUR NEIGHBOR ROSEMARY CHRISTOPH of Shelburne Falls will speak on Sunday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at Green River Yoga & Movement Arts, 158 Main St. in Greenfield about developing an inner life.

“Preparing the Vessel, Developing an Inner Life: A Talk on the Gurdjieff Work,” is free and open to the public, but contributions of $5 to $15 will be appreciated, I’m told.

POET’S SEAT HEALTH CENTER on High Street in Greenfield will hold its annual tag sale on July 13 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Items typically found at the tag sale include furniture, clothing, tools, books and appliances. Most of the items are donated by Poet’s Seat residents and their families. The care center is also accepting donations of sale items by you. Proceeds from the sale will go to the residents’ activities fund, I’m told.

For more information, call Zenaida Diaz at 413-774-6318.

If you get a chance, stop by the tag sale. The residents’ activities fund pays for entertainment and other activities that many of the residents attend. When my mom was there, I’d walk by the activities room and look at the residents’ faces as they sat listening to a local singer or watching a local magician. It really brings a lot of joy to some of our older neighbors, and it’s nice to know you helped in some way.

THE MUSEUM OF OUR INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE in Greenfield will be open on Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. until September, so if you admire fine tools or love learning the history of this area, make sure you get there this summer.

You’ll see a collection of tools and machines made locally, and even have the opportunity to thread a bolt by hand in the demonstration machine shop. You’ll learn how this area was a well-known center of industrial innovation, and there will be a special exhibit on Conway’s textile industry.

The museum is located at 2 Mead St. in Greenfield. Admission is free and donations are welcome.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SHARE YOUR HOME for a year and gain a friend for life? Our neighbor Phil Corrinet told me that ASSE International Student Exchange Programs needs host families for foreign students coming here to learn this coming school year.

Students, who will come from Germany, France, and many other countries, will be between the ages of 15 and 18. Most towns in Franklin County are pre-approved for placement, so now is the time to express your interest. Students typically arrive in late August.

My ex-husband Jeff and I hosted a student from Spain and one from Morocco many years ago. It was a great experience and our son Daniel, who was very young at the time, had a blast.

For more information, call Phil at 413-427-2075 or ASSE at 800-677-2773. Also visit ASSE at: www.assehosts.com.

OUR NEIGHBOR DOUG WIGHT told me that his organization, National Alliance of Concerned Americans For The Wellbeing of All People And Earth, gave another one of our neighbors, Sandra Boston, the Dorothy Day-Rachel Carson Social-Environmental Award during this year’s free second annual Eco-Spiritual Gathering on Sunday.

Wight called Sandra “truly one of Greenfield’s most prominent, visible and outstanding social-environmental activists,” with her work going back four decades.

Sandra is a member of Greening Greenfield, Traprock Peace Center, American Friends Service Committee, Occupy Franklin County, Pioneer Valley Transition Towns, and the Democracy Group, to name a few.

Congratulations Sandra!

To contact Anita Fritz, a staff reporter at The Recorder, send an email to: franklincountyneighbors@gmail.com or call 413-772-0261, ext. 280. You can also reach Anita on Facebook at Anita’s Neighbors. Information to be included in Neighbors may also be sent to: neighbors@recorder.com up to noon two days before you want it to run.